Master Closet and Laundry Design
Designing the master closet and laundry room has been one of my biggest challenges. You can hire a professional interior designers, they will create the interior design that makes it uniquely fit for you. I’m trying to merge economy, functionality, and beauty into one uber-space. I want a built-in closet with custom cabinetry and loads of beautiful details. Something like these custom closets I found on Pinterest:
I also had to merge the functionality of a laundry room with my dream closet, the solution ended up being a custom cabinetry project.
The first thing I had to nail down was what kind of shelving system to use. At first I thought, Oh, I’ll use that wire shelving stuff.
But it just doesn’t have the refined look of a custom built-in. But it is easy and fairly inexpensive. I kept thinking and I came up with these:
The expedit shelves from ikea come in white and are just $59.99. I’ll add feet to adjust the height and use two of them in a T shape for the majority of the space.
This is a rough sketch. The two Expedits are in black. The torquoise is a shelf that will go all the way around the room. the purple lines are clothes bars and the purple dot indicates the clothes bar coming out of the corner. The adjacent wall looks something like this:
Here you can see the purple dot turns into the long hanging section. Another Expedit will hold more sweaters etc. The ceiling shelf extends all the way around and a lower shelf gives even more storage.
For the shelves, I plan on using an assortment of storage options. I love the expedit cubbies for stacks of jeans, sweaters, etc. In doing an inventory of our clothing, I realize we need lots of stacking storage. That’s what really got me started thinking about how to use the expedits in the closet. For the large shelf around the top of the closet, we will fill that with suitcases and sleeping bags and all the long-term storage stuff that you don’t want in the basement. For the small stuff, I have an assortment of the adorable boxes from ikea.
They match my color scheme and everything!
For the laundry corner, I’m planning on wall-mounting two 30″ base cabinets. These from Ikea are on the list at $83 each:
They are super plain and kind of ugly but I was thinking of covering the doors in a vintage kitchen tablecloth or some cute vintage kitschy fabric. I’m a little worried these full size base cabinets are going to be too deep to be useful but I love the look of them.
To bring the front load washer/dryer set up off the ground, I want to build a pedestal to hold laundry baskets.
In the center of the room, I’d like to build an island with lots of drawers. I’ve been looking for a dresser that is long and low with fairly shallow drawers. As usual, Ikea to the rescue.
These Tarva dressers are $149 and shallow at just 15.5″ deep. That will let me put two back to back and not completely overpower the room. I’m planning on oil-based high-gloss white paint to start. I’ll probably get tired and cover the doors at some point. I’m not 100% sold on the Tarva. I think I’m going to need to get into the space and really seek out what it needs. It may be that a bit more hanging storage or a round boudoir ottoman is more appropriate.
The tentative layout for the room is like this:
The closet was once a bedroom so it has it’s own closet. I’m planning on lining that room with ceder planks and making a ceder storage closet out of it. It can house the coats, the furs, etc. I plan on waiting to see what we are lacking before finishing up the design of that sub closet.
You can see I’ve added a shoe shelf. I have a Gorm Shelf with 6 extra shelves that I’m planning on painting a high-gloss oil based white. The shelves are slatted with is great for shoes and I wanted something with adjustable height shelves so I could store boots, heels and sneakers.
I believe Ikea is discontinuing the Gorm system so I was glad I got in on that while I could.
I’m also planning on a large full length mirror. Something highly functional. I’m thinking like 3′ wide by 7′ tall. They do sell framed “prop against the wall” mirrors that big. I’m keeping an eye out for one at a garage sale but mirror places will cut you a mirror any size you want and deliver it. I’ll probably end up doing that and adding some molding if I want to frame it. It will probably be cheaper in the end.
And there you have it, my closet. Now I just need to finish hauling out all the plaster and lath, lay the drain and pull supply for the washer, connect the gas for the dryer pull the 2 electric circuits for the laundry and the rest of the closet, replace the windows, have a drywall guy in, and paint. Then, I can start building the ultimate closet/laundry room. We have lots of work ahead of us but it is fun work and the end result will be so worth it!
Sarah
Drapes in the Piano Room
Apologies for the accidental draft post earlier today! I promise I have lots of house updates on the way. I need to get a few more pictures and I’ll be having a blog post frenzy this weekend. For now, I’m thinking about drapes.
I’ve decided that the piano room should be painted a muted shade of purple. I think it will look regal with the wood trim and Stefan’s beautiful piano. Purple is such a formal but unexpected shade that I think sets the tone quite well for that room.
I’m trying to determine the best type of window treatments for the large bay window as well as the smaller side window in that room. There are also the french doors into the dining room that will need some amount of sound proofing to make the piano a little less boisterous. I’m thinking heavy velvets are the way to go. They will add a lot of sound absorption and add to the elegant regal feel of the space, not including the balsa wood table we’d brought from a furniture store. Any other thick, rich fabric will do as well. Chenille in a damask or Jacquard pattern could be beautiful. I still haven’t found anything I love in a purple pattern. Since there will not be much furniture in the room, the curtains are a place where we can go a little wild with pattern.
So far, these are the options I have found:
This is a velvet panel from JCPenneys.
Here is a patterned velvet:
They are running about $50 a panel and I would need 10 or more panels. I also have the option to purchase fabric and make my own. That would entail finding 54″ fabric for $15 or less per yard. Definitely doable for a cotton or polyester blend, a little more challenging for a beautiful velvet.
I have thought about changing directions. Part of me loves regal elegance and the ostentatious-ness of velvet, but what if we modernized a bit with something more like this:
Or we could go more casual with a lovely linen floral similar to what I’m doing in the dining room.
Here’s a nice medium but it’s $35 a yard!
The curtains definitely need to be heavy in that room. It will help with the piano acoustics and my sanity. I love the formality that a grand piano brings to a space and I want to emphasize that with my treatment of the room. At the same time, I am worried that going too formal will end up being a bit tacky and over-done. What are your thoughts?
Sarah
Estate Sale Season is Here!
It’s estate sale season and I’ve got lots of room to fill with vintage treasures. This season, I’m going to stick to a handful of projects that I’ll be scouting for. I also can’t say no to glassware, though I really should.
1) Paintings and vintage artwork
In this post: Eclectic Art Stairwell, I mentioned wanting a beautiful art collection for the stairs.
I love paintings of pretty people in old-fashioned clothing.
This next picture I pinned a while ago, I like the idea of the picture rails to hang and display the artwork especially since the stairwells are plaster
I am also looking for more scientific botanicals, architectural prints, scientific themed prints for the plate rail in the dining room. I love these horribly expensive ones from restoration hardware that I oogled over in a previous post:. Things along this line:
2) Big Spool
I love this coffee table idea I posted about here: I am so doing this.
3) Type Drawers
I pinned this last week sometime. My Grammy had one in her living room and I always thought it was awesome. My uncle Paul has it now. I’d love one of my own.
4) Vintage Toolboxes
I love the idea of a collection of vintage wooden toolboxes. What a great way to corral stuff in the living room, kids rooms, etc. Forget modern bins as toy boxes, why not a 100 year old awesome toolbox!
This image really sealed the deal for me. Love that built in with all the nooks for old boxes.
5) Furniture List
Piano Room: small settee, a music stand, a cute piano stool, old end-tables, Barrister Bookcase
Dining room: Round table with leaves, upholstered chairs,
Den: Couch but we’ll probably buy new, Solid Bookshelves,
Master Bedroom: Queen sized 4-posted bed, plant stands for office/sunroom area
3rd Floor Bedrooms: twin beds with short headboards
Outside: Cast Aluminum Patio Set, Benches, porch swing, Concrete Urns, Etc.
That’s my list for the season. What do you have on your list?
Sarah
Stairs into kitchen
I’ve talked about my kitchen stairs before but we pulled down the ugly old banister when we re-did the floors so I’ve really started trying to figure out what we’re going to do.
I’m pretty set on wood treads, wood railing, and white spindles. Something like this from Better Homes and Gardens
There is a deep shelf that reaches under those stairs from the basement. It’s the perfect litter-box perch. It’s about waist high from the stair landing for easy clean-up and is out of the way for guests, smells, etc.
You can see the back of the plaster and lath from the kitchen side now that that wall has been removed.
We are going to do wainscoting around the kitchen so that will cover the side of the staircase. I would like to have a little cat-door peaking out from under the staircase to allow kitty access to the litter-box. My initial idea was to put a cat door in the basement door but I don’t love the idea of cutting into my doors. A little cat-door in the wall next to the stairs is perfect.
I have a couple ideas.
I love the idea of a cat-shaped hole but I don’t think I want a hole that large though it would be very cute. Here is a smaller cat-silhouette.
I could also just paint a cat silhouette on the wall and have a smaller hole in it.
There is also a small triangle of space under those stairs that isn’t being used. It is a dead space that hasn’t been cleaned in 100 years and is a bit of a mess. I’ll have Stefan clean that out and then I can either wall it up for another 100 years or I can do something functional. I love this concept:
There is also the stair treads themselves.
I’m not sure how much these would be used though. Also, what would I put in them? Canned goods come to mind as does shoes/scarves/gloves etc. They would also make good kid storage areas for toys etc. I really just think they are super cool but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely worth the effort. Part of me thinks that while we are replacing the treads, we might as well and part of me things it’s just a silly love of secret compartments.
What do you think? Cat passage and stair storage? Any other great ideas.
Sarah
